Musings from the hall...

Sitting here at the school house in between classes. I am surrounded by other people; students, faculty and just people passing by. Yet with all of these people around me, I feel completely isolated and desperately want to connect with someone. At a table in front of my there are six men, each avidly absorbed in their own personal activities. To my left another student is cruising through wikipedia and typing away with the bits of wisdom he finds.

Through it all, there is nothing to establish a connection with any of these individuals. It is very nearly like being the lonely traveler at an airport far from home. You know that your time there will not be indefinite. You know that there is no reason for any of the others around you to try and impart a few moments of their time. You have questions sometimes if you even speak the language. But still, the burning desire to connect with another human being continues. Why is it that even when we are surrounded by so many others, we can feel so alone?

Gear Review: Personal Responsibility

 

Hey Folks...it's me again. I was going to make this another of my gear reviews, this one featuring my Springfield Armory XD(m) 40. Looking at the above pic though, I decided to write about something different, I hope you don't mind. I promise that I will do a good and detailed review of the XDm another time. I am sure the folks at Springfield (fabulous folks there by the way) will probably not even notice my little review either way. Now without further ado...

Some of you might have looked at my pic and thought what a horrible parent. How could this man expose his daughter in such a reckless manner to those horrible and disgusting things. Doesn't he know he could have killed her?

Actually, I just have to laugh at you folks and I hope I don't offend you with that as I shake my head at you. The truth is I would never endanger my beautiful daughter or my son with any reckless actions. Before I ever bought my first real firearm, I had a plastic pistol that fired orange foam darts which have a suction cup on the end. Yup, that's right, my daughter was started on safety with Nerf pistol. I taught her that you don't point the nerf at someone's face. She doesn't play with the nerf unless she asks first so that the adults know what she is doing. Later I bought a airsoft pistol, spring operated, that shoots plastic bb's. With this purchase we started to teach more safety lessons. I taught her that she never touches the pistol unless Daddy is supervising. I taught her more basic firearm safety lessons like never point a firearm at something or someone that you don't want to hurt (destroy or kill were the terms used later). She was told that if she ever found the gun laying around to not touch it and tell Mommy or Daddy about it first.

Finally I bought my first real firearm, a shotgun. As with the other pistols, I taught about her how to be safe around this firearm. I let her come and see the shotgun (unloaded, checked 2 times) on my bed and ask questions. She actually approached it like a display at a museum. She leaned over and looked at it and then stepped back and asked if it was real. I said yes it was very real and then reminded her of all the safety things we had discussed so far. I asked her if she wanted to pick it up and she said no...it was too big for her and that she would wait until we got a "girl" size one for her to use.

We went through this same stuff when I bought my first pistol but we did add one additional step at this point. I field stripped the pistol and then made my daughter hold the stripped frame. I wanted to teach her how to touch and carry the pistol safely. The reason for this is that her little brother was going to need some extra eyes looking after him. I gave her permission to touch the gun only in a situation where she needed to move it to someplace safe and then go tell Mommy or Daddy right away that it wasn't put away. She understands that my guns are not toys, that they can and will cause serious hurt and could kill. We took our pumpkins out and shot them up after Halloween one year and she saw what happened to them. She even took a turn on her Grandpa's .22 rifle one year at the family reunion. She wanted to shoot it but was really nervous. She fired one shot and then was completely satisfied. She was proud of how brave she had been to fire the gun but didn't want to shoot anymore than once. I was proud of her for being brave.

Have I endangered my daughter? I don't think so. I have equipped her with tools that will allow her to respect the capabilities of firearms. She will treat them with respect and caution. She knows how to not endanger others if she needs to handle them. Did I remove the danger that a gun can represent? I think so because a gun is just a simple machine. It is not sentient. It is not a condensed lump of evil that radiates an uncontrollable desire for death and mayhem. It is just a tool and like any tool can be dangerous if you don't know how to use it and how to do so in a safe manner. I have taught my daughter how to handle a firearm in a safe manner and what it can do. She is going to face many dangers in her life; high school, driving, boys (ugh!!) but one thing that she now has the knowledge to deal with safely is firearms.

...now if I can just figure out how to teach her about dealing safely with boys I should be a shoe in for parent of the century.

Look Out World....

....It's Crafty Time!!!

So, for those of you who know me and those of you that don't, I tend to think about worst case scenarios a lot. I have always worried about my kids and my family. We moved into the lovely house that we live in about 3 yrs ago. In the entire time, my kids have slept upstairs and that has always caused me some concerns. In case of fire what would they do? 

Well, I finally decided to do something about it and I did some research. I found some good sites online that gave me some info and I ran with it. Using some rope that we had purchased to hang hammocks I stated to make an escape ladder for the kids.

I actually did this a couple of times because when I tied it the first time and did a height check, the ladder was about 7 feet too short.  I undid all of my work and narrowed the steps up to give me more reach. I also tried to reinforce the rungs by putting a dowel in each one.

As you can see, the knots are not exactly tough to tie but they can still be a pain. When you first start tieing this, the entire length of the rope is being passed around and through the knot. It's a bit awkward but doable.

So I got this tie redone. I used rungs that were about 8in in width. I did a height test and the ladder reach to about two and a half feet off the ground. It's a big step for a kid but if they are climbing down it and not up they can jump the last bit.

Now before you say congrats, I tested it. I held it and asked my daughter to try to climb it from the bottom. She started climbing and on the second rung, the dowel broke. She didn't fall but that rung was more unstable. I am going to redesign this thing and try again. I want my family to be safe and if I can do it by using my hands to make something.....Bonus!!

On a regular night...

something most amazing occurred. In the most unassuming of locations to the most humble couple ever, an amazing child came to this earth. His life, His mission was laid out and would be of greater impact to all mankind than any other individual to ever walk the face of the earth.

 Thank you Father, for sending us your Son. Thank you Jesus for being the one who could show us all the way home. Thank you Brother, for loving me enough to suffer and die for my sins. Thank you Father for letting him rise again so that I may as well.

To each and every one of you that I know, love and think about...Merry Christmas and remember the one who's birth we celebrate at this time. 

Gear Review: Leatherman Wave

Hi all, as I said before I would be reviewing pieces of gear on here. Well, it's time once again for another review. Today's featured item is my trusty Leatherman Wave. I have been a fan of multi-tools since my first Boy Scout Swiss Army knife. As the years have gone by, my tastes for equipment have grown more sophisticated. The first Multi-tool I purchased was a Gerber Multi-plier. I used it for a few years and found it most useful on my bicycle for emergency flat fixes but otherwise found it lacking it range of applications (this was probably my failing and not the tool). A year or two after getting married, my father-in-law was kind enough to give me my first Leatherman. It was one of the original pocket survival tool designs. I found I was able to apply this tool to a wider range of applications yet still found limitations. I loved the needle nose pliers on it but when using them, I always would hurt my hand from the rather sharp edge of the grip. Sadly, that tool was stolen during my tenure in the Navy. I replaced it with a couple of different Victronox Swiss army knives (which I might go into at another time) but eventually found the Leatherman Wave.

Leatherman Wave, Gen1

It had all of the features that I loved from my original Leatherman; needle-nose pliers, an assortment of screwdrivers, a file and a great can opener. This new design though...hallelujah...they had finally realized that not everyone had the completely calloused hands of a lumberjack. They had redesigned the handle so that when the pliers were deployed, you had a rounded grip surface to squeeze on. They also had redone the blades adding a serrated blade and a saw. All four of these blades had been placed on the outside and a locking mechanism was added for safety. Now I could access the knife without having to open my pliers. This thing was awesome.

 

At the time I bought this knife it was part of a combo pack at Sam's Club that included a flashlight with a combination case that held both light and tool in one holder. I thought that was a fantastic idea at the time because I was doing field service work and regularly used both tool and flashlights. The drawback to the package was the flashlight...it has a end-cap activation button that seemed like a great thing. At the time I was using a Mini-Mag light and had to screw the flashlight top to activate it, now I could just hit this button and be ready to go. Well, the button got hit alright on the first work trip I took it on...by the seat in my car. After driving 6 hrs to get to my job site, I found my flashlight was dead. Since I couldn't use the light, I swapped my Leatherman into my old Gerber tool pouch and carried my mini-mag in it's pouch as well.  

So, at this point you are all wondering what does this have to do with your Leatherman? Well, the folks out at Leatherman are some fantastic people that I had the privilege of working with them for a week on one of their machines. While I was there, the lady I was working with noticed I was using a Leaterman but carrying it in a Gerber pouch (the competition). She looked at me and asked about it. I told her my story and she said "This just won't do. I'll be right back." She returned a few moments later apologizing saying they were all out of the ballistic nylon pouches at the time and only had this as she handed me a leather belt pouch for my knife. I was floored but thanked her profusely. I have carried my Wave in that pouch on my belt almost daily ever since.

I know there are a lot of brands out there but for the money I have found Leatherman to be the best. I will still check out other multi-tools and knives but when given my choice, Leatherman is always where I turn to first.

More damaging to the environement than...

...a pregnant water buffalo. Seriously, we have gotten two target stands made now. I am looking forward to using them a little more often. I had wanted to take them out along with our pumpkins last Monday for our annual pumpkin shoot but fate it seems had other plans for me. The weather shifted and my body responded accordingly. Sinus drainage, aches, fever...you know the drill. I spent the weekend in bed all doped up on medication. I did manage to kick the crud but missed going shooting. Now the weather is totally threatening to go into full blown winter mode. That means I will really need to pick my days carefully to try and get out. It would be easier if I had a truck to get to our shooting location. I can do it the car but once the dirt gets all squishy I'm not going to be able to do it that way. That means I will have to park by the main road and hike in will all my gear....doable but much less fun.

My daughter is still here next to me as I write and asking me about the sense of my title. I think she doesn't fully understand the concept of a play on words. It all good though, she is a extremely smart girl and will get it with out me having to explain it to her.

Having fun

I got to go out last night with my kids. My daughter was dressed as one of the Navi from Avatar. Her Mom did a great job with the make up. My son was dressed as one of the Angry Birds, the bomb bird. They both had a fantastic time going to the different houses. There were a few that my son decided were too scary for him to walk up to but his sister was awesome in getting him candy from those houses as well. We were out for about two hours when my son gave up. We were already heading home to get in the car to hit a couple other spots that were close but not close enough to walk to. He was a champ though, carrying his heavy bag of loot for the entire time. All in all I think the three of us had a great time. I know I was very happy at the way that they stayed together and that my daughter looked out for her brother.